"From the horse's mouth comes forth a stream of information that shows a dilatory and careless attitude to compliance with the terms and conditions of the licence which the applicant was fully cognizant of and for which it patently did not manifest a desire to fulfil, either through a lack of capability or due to its later realisation of the implications of the project it had chosen to embark upon,"Justice David Alfred while refusing application by One Hundred Sands Ltd for judicial review of Fiji Government's decision to revoke their casino licence

Fijileaks: We will continue to reproduce archival materials to KEEP REMINDING all Fijians of the dark days of the dictatorship and how the dictators and their side-kicks exploited the 2006 coup to their maximum benefits without us having recourse to their courts for redress; recall their Decree which made most of their decisions unchallengeable!

“Study the past if you would define the future.” ― Confucius

In March 2012, Fijileaks Founding Editor-in-Chief VICTOR LAL had raised serious questions about One Hundred Sands Ltd in pro-democracy blog Coupfourpointfive but Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and Frank Bainimarama went ahead with the casino dealwith Larry Claunch. The supine Fiji media ran with the 'casino deal' without making any effort to investigate One Hundred Sands Ltdor Larry Claunch

Fijileaks: In January 2012 the Registrar of Companies in Fiji was not able to locate the One Hundred Sands Ltd file for Victor Lal. However, a source inside Attorney-General's Chambers informed Lal that the file was with Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum. The same source was able to make a copy of the file which enabled Lal to write the story below for C4/5 in March 2012:

Casino (Operator) DecreeThis confers an exclusive licence on One Hundred Sands Limited to operate a casino, and gives it a 15 –year tax holiday. The scheme confers functions on a ‘Fijian [sic] Gaming Commission and Control Board’ which does not exist at present.Comment: The drafting is very defective, almost to the point of incomprehensibility, and the policy might be open to question, but no human rights issue appears to arise on the substance of the Decree. There is however an ouster clause at section14 which should be repealed. - The Ghai Commission

PLACE YOUR BETS: WILL THE CASINO LICENSE BE GIVEN TO DAMODAR AND SKY CITY?

The legacy of the Thug Rulers remain with us in the form of such wheeling and dealing during " the dark days of the dictatorship" when there was no accountability and transparency and no recourse for judicial challenge.

Reply

And

26/4/2015 04:53:21 pm

How come it is only Fijileaks that has taken up the duty to remind the Fijian people of the dark days of the dictatorship and it's crooked dealings?
What happened to the independent local media? They still have their tails tucked in between their legs even though Fiji is said to have returned to democracy according to the international gang

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rajend naidu

27/4/2015 12:09:39 am

Editor,
Immediately upon reading this Fijileaks revelation regarding the numerous questions surrounding the One Hundred Sands Ltd exclusively casino deal granted by Fiji's erstwhile dictatorial rulers Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and Frank Bainimarama I was reminded of what Murray Dobbin said in his book The Myth Of The Good Corporate Citizen ( which I picked up from the Bulacino Cafe in Suva recently ).
He says " ... What the examples of Northern Telecom and Placer Dome demonstrate is not just that corporations flout ethics and morality when they operate in less developed countries. Their behaviour extends to participating and cooperating with local authorities to undermine democracy and suppress political dissent. Placer Dome's intervention with President Fidelity Ramos, and Northern Telecom's enlisting the Malaysian government to thwart its workers' legal attempt to unionise, reveal a willingness of Canadian corporations to align themselves with reactionary and repressive governments in order to enhance their bottom line..."
The same is apparently true for One Hundred Sands Ltd. The coup country environment with its lack of accountability, transparency, public scrutiny and court challenge provided an ideal environment for unscrupulous corporations to do business here.
All it took was to get on the right side of the power holders and their cronies in business.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu
Sydney

Reply

Chiku

27/4/2015 11:21:24 am

It is true as Dr Nur Bano Ali says that one has to keep ones eyes and mind open constantly to make a success in business. But that is not the case with the likes of Dr Nur Bano Ali. Her success as a businesswoman is on account of patronage politics. It was her good fortune that she is the aunt of Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum the minister for many things and the main boy of the dictator Frank Bainimarama. She had a good many deals falling into her lap not because of any special business acumen. She benefited from nepotism and favouritism that was the modus operandi of the Bai-Kai dictatorship.

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Welcome Home

28/4/2015 12:32:17 am

Wrong use of past tense in last posting. ""Benefits and purportedly continues apace so to do"? At what total cost in the Big Picture to the welfare and future sustainability of both the State and the people at large. A mindset of "L'Etat c'est Moi" and moi in this context is not 'Le Roi' mais "La Reine"! BDO must have keenly been affronted by such over-riding insouciance. And they were not alone.

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Yep

28/4/2015 06:38:13 am

Success in that occupation at times also means keeping something else wide open especially for one's political friends.

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"...Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy... censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives." --Robert A. Heinlein, -If This Goes On